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Friday, August 20, 2010

I've been waiting four years for this day!

Cute picture, huh? Click here
to see where I stole it from.

In seven hours and 36 pages, I will be blissfully sipping wine, munching on AB's Really Good Dip, and discussing We Were the Mulvaneys with Lydia and Renae. Book Club is back! I'm almost too excited for words.

Partly inspired by Whitney, who recently formed her own book club (though too far away for me to join), and partly sparked by Lydia, an avid reader I met when we worked together a few years back, I decided to stop waiting for a book club to come to me. All it took was Lydia's interest to encourage me to form our own group.

Through a quick flurry of emails we resolved to Make It So. Lydia enlisted Renae with little to no arm-twisting, and Renae has promised a few new members who will join us after this first, hurriedly slapped together meeting.

Tonight will probably also be a time of discussion of our club's guidelines (which is a slightly less restrictive word than "rules," but I still don't especially like it). We've already decided a few things: there will be wine, there will be food, we will meet once a month, tentatively having settled on the third Friday, rotating hosting duties between our houses.

One big thing that we have yet to consider is the selection of books. In my old book club--which I loved, though I want to consciously avoid forcing this new book club into its mold--the host of the current month selected and procured copies of the book to be discussed at our next meeting. This was great for two reasons: exposure to books I may not have chosen or even heard of on my own (without endless deliberation and concession), and--my favorite part--it was always so exciting to be surprised by the new selection. (OK, yes, I have to admit it was only almost always exciting. There were a few disappointments over the years.)  Stinkers notwithstanding, "The Reveal" was one of the highlights of Book Club.

I saw another interesting option for choosing book club books at Dolce Bellezza. Once a year they have a Choosing Night, where they settle on their reading list for the coming months. I like this because it would be a sure way to avoid unwanted re-reads. But I'm not sure if I can give up the monthly anticipation of "which book will be next?"

What are some other good ideas for choosing book club books?

8 comments:

  1. I hope you enjoyed your book club meeting. I was part of a great book club 5 years ago, but moved and haven't found a good one since.

    We would have a dinner in December and vote on the books for the year. It was fun to hear everyones suggestions then decide altogether. I don't think there were any choices that I didn't end up liking.

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  2. The monthly anticipation is an awe-inspiring thing! As the latest newcomer to this book (They've been meeting fifty years! I've only been invited to the last twenty!) I go with what's been established. It's good to know what the year will look like, and I can order all the titles from amazon.com in the gently used category.

    We Were The Mulvaneys is heavy! I read it with another club years ago, and I'll never forget how they outcast their daughter. Such a tragedy. I can feel your joy about meeting though, and I hope you have a wonderful time together. I'm sure you will, actually.

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  3. Book club was great! I had a wonderful time and I can't wait til next month...except that my house will most likely be very unruly...I have cats and an inside dog. lol

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  4. Thanks for the well-wishes! Book club was wonderful! I, too, am already looking forward to next month.

    Kristi--I hope you can find a new book club. Maybe you can form your own!

    Bellezza--WOW, fifty years?? That's quite a run! I am impressed. Are you the only "youngster"? And you're right about Mulvaneys. I'm getting ready to post my thoughts on it now.

    Lydia--at least maybe your pets won't have to show me every single toy in their toy basket. ;)

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  5. I've never been part of a book club - guess that's one of the main reasons why I blog about books. It's the only medium I have to share my love for books and my thoughts on them with other people who are bibliophiles as well.

    Hope you enjoy the book group, and the selection of books are amazing! :)

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  6. Cookie--I know exactly what you mean about book blogging--I saw my book blog as my substitute for book club. One good thing about a real book club is that you get to discuss all the spoilers that you have to leave out of blog posts!!

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  7. You are so lucky-- I've never been in a bookclub and never really wanted to be till I started bookblogging. It is so fun talking books online that I'd like to have some real life bookbuds. Wonder if I could start my own? Since blogging I've discovered a few gals at work who read but only Evanovich or Koontz or Patterson type stuff-- might have to post an ad at the library. Or I could commute down to E Tx. ;o)

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  8. Lesa--you would always be welcome at our book club! :) Though I hope for your sake you find something closer. Maybe if you hold out you'll be able to find some non-strangers who read better stuff than the gals you've discovered so far. It worked for me! ;)

    I must add that ever since I read the first line of your comment I've been hearing Clint Eastwood telling me the one question I need to ask myself is do I feel lucky. (I DO!)

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